| 释义 |
▪ I. exercise, n.|ˈɛksəsaɪz|
Forms: 4–6 excercise, -cyse, -sise, -sice, 5–6 exercyse, 6 Sc. exerceis(s, -cyiss, exercice, 4– exercise.
[ME. exercise, a. OF. exercice = Pr. exercici, exercisi:—L. exercitium, f. exercēre to keep at work, busy, employ, practise, train (cf. exercise v.), f. ex- (see ex- prefix1) + arcēre to shut up, restrain.
The etymological notion of exercēre is obscure: it is often regarded as having meant primarily ‘to drive forth (tillage beasts),’ and hence ‘to employ, set to work’.]
1. a. The action of employing in its appropriate activity, (an organ, a faculty, or power) of giving practical effect to (a right), of exerting (influence or authority); the state or condition of being in active operation.
c1340Hampole Psalter iii. 5, I rase fra ded til lyf, fra ydelnes til excercise in godis seruys. 1608Shakes. Per. i. iv. 38 These mouths..are now starv'd for want of exercise. 1659Pearson Creed (1839) 331 Thou shalt not suffer me..to continue without exercise, or power of exercising my vital faculty. 1698–9Ludlow Mem. (1751) I. 246 Whether the House of Commons should take advice of the House of Lords in the exercise of the legislative power? 1729Butler Serm. iv. Wks. 1874 II. 46 Their conversation is merely an exercise of the tongue. 1792Anecd. W. Pitt II. xxix. 129 The exercise of this, their constitutional right, of giving..their own money. 1820Scott Ivanhoe xxii, A large mouthful, which required the exercise of both jaws at once. 1820Keats Hyperion i. 107 Godlike exercise Of influence benign. 1836–7Sir W. Hamilton Metaph. i. (1877) I. 7 The one condition under which all powers..are developed is exercise. 1879Geo. Eliot Coll. Breakf. P. 164 That exercise of soul Which lies in full obedience. 1890Sir C. S. C. Bowen in Law Times Rep. LXIII. 735/1 Such a matter as this is not one for the exercise of the judge's discretion.
b. The use of or method of using (a weapon).
1490Caxton Eneydos xiv. 50 The excercyse of armes is dyscontynued. 1632J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 161 Nerves hardened with the continuall exercise of the sling. 1678tr. Gaya's Art of War ii. 57 The Exercise of the Pike. 1685Abridgm. Eng. Mil. Discipl. 3 The Officer must first command silence, and then proceed to the Exercise of the Musquet.
†2. Habitual occupation or employment; customary practice. to make it one's exercise: to make it one's employment. Obs.
1551Robinson tr. More's Utop. ii. (Arb.) 149 Thinking felicitie after this life to be gotten by..good exercises. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iv. vi. 85 Hunting was his dayly Exercise. 1614Raleigh Hist. World v. ii. 581 So he makes it his exercise to torment and murther all whom he suspecteth. 1668in T. W. Marsh Early Friends Surrey & Sus. vii. 57 This is none of the Quakers exercise. 1738Wesley Psalms i. ii, His Exercise by Day and Night To search his Soul-converting Word.
3. The practice (of virtues or vices); the habitual carrying out (of any particular kind of conduct); the practice or fulfilment of the duties of (a profession, office, etc.); the execution of (functions).
1393Gower Conf. III. 19 Upon the nature of this vice, Of custume and of exercise..A tale..I shall rehercen. 1432Paston Lett. No. 18 I. 32 He may putte hem from excercise and occupacion of the Kinges service. 1538Starkey England ii. ii. 187 Abbeys and monasterys for the exercyse of a monastycal lyfe. 1552Huloet, Exercise of marchandise, negotiatio. 1594Hooker Eccl. Pol. iv. xiv. (1611) 167 Suspence of iudgement and exercice of charity were safer. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxx. 181 To defend private men in the exercise of severall Trades. 1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. i. i. 6 The Rules and Exercise of Architecture. 1773Observ. State Poor 42 The exercise of cruelty is too frequently a concomitant of the acquisition of power. 1850A. Jameson Leg. Monast. Ord. (1863) 332 After some years spent in the exercise of every virtue. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xvii. 55 A..larger exercise both of concert and secrecy.
4. The practice and performance of rites and ceremonies, worship, etc.; the right or permission to celebrate the observances (of a religion). † Formerly also ellipt. = ‘exercise of worship’. Cf. 10.
1658B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 49 The Emperours brother Mathias..granted the Exercise of the Confession of Auxbourgh, throughout all Austria. Ibid. 64 He..re-established the Exercise of the Roman Catholick Religion. Ibid. 222 The King hath lost seven Provinces, and the said Church, her exercise. 1704Addison Italy 508 [Lewis] refus'd even those of the Church of England..the publick Exercise of their Religion. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. III. 92 The exercise of public worship appears to be the only solid foundation of the religious sentiments of the people.
†5.
a. The action or process of training or drilling scholars, troops, etc.; an instance of this. Const. of. camp of exercise: a camp established for the purpose of training troops. Obs.
a1533Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) H, Now wil we speake of his laudable exercises of them that came to hym. 1538Starkey England ii. i. 161 A commyn place appoyntyd to the exercyse of vthe. 1685Abridgm. Eng. Mil. Discipl. 25 The Exercise of Horse consists in fewer Words of Command, then that of Foot. 1819Rees Cycl. s.v. Camp, A Camp of peace and exercise.
¶b. The action of working the ground (after L.).
1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 143 He with frequent Exercise Commands Th' unwilling Soil [tr. exercet tellurem].
6. a. Practice for the sake of training or improvement, either bodily, mental, or spiritual.
c1340Hampole Prose Tr. 14 A saule þat haues..by gastely excercyse ouercomene and dystroyede concupyscens and passiouns. 1483Caxton Cato B iij, For by the same playe one may doo his excersise. 1509Fisher Fun. Serm. C'tess Richmond Wks. 292 For her exercyse..she dyde translate dyuers maters of deuocyon out of the Frensshe into Englysshe. 1557Recorde Whetst. F ij b, Exercise is the beste instrument in learnyng. c1570Short Sum 1st Bk. Discipl. Ch. Scot. §5 Reiders fvnd unabill, efter tua ȝeiris exerceis, for the ministrie. 1663Gerbier Counsel 8 b, In the drawing of a line..he meant a continual exercise to perfection. 1725–6Pope Odyss. viii. 201 Skill'd in heroic exercise, I claim A post of honour. 1845Stocqueler Handbk. Brit. India (1854) 12 An army of exercise was assembled on the Gwalior frontier. 1853― Mil. Encycl., Exercise, the practice of all those motions and actions, together with the whole management of arms, which are essential to the perfection of a soldier, and the rendering him fit for service.
†b. Acquired skill. Obs.
1602Shakes. Ham. iv. vii. 98 Hee.. gaue you such a Masterly report, For Art and exercise in your defence.
c. Disciplinary suffering, ‘trial’; an instance of this. Also, a state of distress or anxiety, a painful mental struggle. Now rare.
c1386Chaucer Clerk's T. 1100 For our exercise, With sharpe scourges of adversitee..to be bete. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 1 b, Goostly exercyse, or mortifycacyon of the senses. 1657Cromwell Sp. 20 Apr. (Carlyle), The exercise that hath been upon me these three or four days. a1662D. Dickson in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. lxxxviii. (title), The heaviest exercise we can imagine possible for a saint. a1713T. Ellwood Autobiog. (1714) 31 For I presently saw, it would bring a very great exercise upon me. 1861Mrs. Stowe Pearl Orr's Isl. 26 These 'ere forty years that I've been round..tendin' funerals I've watched people's exercises.
7. Exertion of the muscles, limbs, and bodily powers, regarded with reference to its effect on the subject; esp. such exertion undertaken with a view to the maintenance or improvement of health. Often with modifying words, as carriage-exercise, horse-exercise, open air exercise, walking, etc., exercise.
c1386Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 19 Attempre dyete was al hir phisik, And exercise and hertes suffisaunce. 1531Elyot Gov. i. xvi, By exercise..the health of man is preserued. 1626Bacon Sylva §299 Use not Exercise and a Spare Diet..if much Exercise, then a Plentifull Diet. a1700Dryden (J.), The wise for cure on exercise depend. 1732Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 261 Violent Exercise or Labour produceth this Effect. 1779Johnson Let. to Mr. Thrale 23 June, Exercise is labour used only while it produces pleasure. 1806–7J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) ii. xvi, To work in your garden for the sake of exercise. 1865Handy Horse Bk. 32 Two hours' daily exercise at a fast walk will be enough to keep a hack fit for his work.
8. A task prescribed or performed for the sake of attaining proficiency, for training either body or mind, or as an exhibition or test of proficiency or skill.
a. gen.
1576Fleming Panopl. Ep. 356 As well in bodilie exercises as in the also that beelong unto the minde. 1655Walton Angler (ed. 2) 23 What more manly exercise then hunting the Wild-Boare? 1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. ii. iv. §5 The exercises of those who were educated in these Schools of the Prophets, were instructions in the Law. 1817Chalmers Astron. Disc. i. (1852) 18 It is truly a most Christian exercise to extract a sentiment of piety from the works and the appearances of nature. 1860Ruskin Mod. Paint. V. ix. iv. §6. 238 Of these the mason's exercises are in the worst possible taste. Mod. The use of the sloping ladder is an improving exercise.
b. In pl. Military drill, athletics, field sports, dancing, etc. Also in sing. as a collective term, or in sense of ‘a drill or parade’. Often with modifying words, as bayonet-exercise, cutlass-exercise, small arm-exercise, sword-, etc., exercise; also manual exercise (see manual).
a1533Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) B viij b, The father of Marke Aurelee themperour, had bene pretour in exercyses [mistranslating de los exercitos]. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. i. i. 76 Allow me such exercises as may become a gentleman. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. (1843) 4/2 [George Villiers] spent two or three years in..learning the exercises of riding and dancing. 1704Lond. Gaz. No. 3104 Let them [able Bodied Men] repair to Captain Silver..at his House..or at the Exercise on Black-Heath. a1719Addison (J.), The French apply themselves more universally to their exercises than any nation. 1728Pope Dunc. ii. Argt., Then follow the exercises for the Poets, for tickling, vociferating, diving. 1776Gibbon Decl. & F. I. xviii. 483 The exercises of the body prepared them for the fatigues of war. 1788Franklin Autobiog. Wks. 1840 I. 197 The several companies were forming and learning their exercise. 1796–7Instr. & Reg. Cavalry (1813) 199 As steady in the ranks, as if he was at a common exercise.
c. As a University term: An academical declamation or disputation; a vivâ voce examination; a dissertation, musical composition, etc., required from candidates for degrees.
1563Foxe in Latimer's Serm. & Rem. (1845) p. x, After some continuance of exercises in other things, he gave himself to the study of divinity. a1656Bp. Hall Life Rem. Wks. (1660) 10 Never durst I appear in any of those Exercises of Scholarship [public Disputations]. 1701W. Wooton Hist. Rome, Marcus i. 3 He..obliged him to frequent the Lectures and Exercises of the Rhetoricians. 1705Addr. Univ. Oxf. in Lond. Gaz. No. 4086/1 The Exercise performed in our Theater on New-year's-Day. 1726Amherst Terræ Fil. xlii. (1754) 219 They have [at Oxford] long, tedious forms, which they call exercises, through which every candidate for a degree must pass. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Aristocr. Wks. (Bohn) II. 87 Noblemen are exempted from the public exercises for the degree. 1886Oxf. Univ. Calendar 56 The exercise [a piece of Vocal Music] is to be performed in public, and a copy of it to be deposited in the Music School. Ibid. 58 Doing the Exercises [Dissertations or exegetical Lectures] for one of the two [degrees] only.
d. A composition or translation written by pupils at school; a piece of music, a problem, etc., designed to afford practice to learners.
1612Brinsley Lud. Lit. iv. (1627) 32 Now those that write exercises, may take the opportunitie of that time, to write them so faire as they can. 1712Budgell Spect. No. 337 ⁋8 A theme or copy of verses are the usual exercices. 1740J. Clarke Educ. Youth (ed. 3) 34 The Scribling a few lines of Latin Exercise every Night. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 141 ⁋4, I..was furnished with exercises and instructed in my lessons by some kind patron. 1841J. T. J. Hewlett Parish Clerk II. 235 To prepare their exercises and lessons for the following day. 1853E. S. Sheppard C. Auchester I. xvii. 168 She began to sing her florid exercises.
e. A written composition; an essay, sermon, treatise.
1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 95 In my former Exercises, I did not teach you how to chuse the Tools a Smith was to use. a1716South Serm. (1744) XI. 103 Would the time and measure of this exercise permit. a1742Bentley Serm. viii. (R.), Having abundantly proved in our last exercise that, etc. 1880T. Fowler Locke i. 8 These compositions do not rise much above, or sink much below, the ordinary level of such exercises.
† f. concr. The object of exercises; ‘the sport’.
1628Ford Love's Mel. i. i, To be man, my lord, Is to be but the exercise of cares In several shapes.
g. pl. Formal acts or ceremonies on some special occasion. U.S.
1841J. S. Buckingham America II. 47 The First Reformed Dutch Church, where the ‘exercises’, as all proceedings of public meetings are here called, were to take place. 1863‘E. Kirke’ Southern Friends xxvi. 262 A few minutes before the ‘exercises’ [sc. an auction sale] commenced, the negroes were marched upon the lawn. 1891in M. A. Jackson Memoirs (1895) 640 The exercises [sc. unveiling of a monument] were held upon the campus of Washington and Lee University. 1911Springfield Weekly Republ. 16 Nov. 9 The chief feature of the inauguration exercises [of the Lord Mayor of London] was a pageant and tableaux. 1926Publishers' Weekly 1 May 1474 Dedicatory exercises.
h. the object of the exercise: the (whole) point or purpose of (something stated in the context).
1958Spectator 24 Jan. 103/1 Its report is a living document which..will gradually influence public opinion. That was the object of the exercise. 1959Times 20 June 4/4 The main object of the exercise is to merge Theatre Tickets and Messengers' turnover with ours. 1970J. Sangster Touchfeather i. 2 If we knew what it looked like..we would simply bribe a member of the crew..to take it from his cabin. But that is not the object of the exercise.
†9. A recreative employment, pastime. rare.
1622Bacon Hen. VII 17 Thinking..to performe all things now, rather as an Exercise then as a Labour.
10. A religious observance. Cf. 4.
a. gen. (sing. and pl.) Also religious exercise(s, exercises of devotion, religion, or worship.
1560–11st Bk. Discipl. Ch. Scot. (1621) 60 That exercise which St. Paul calls prophecying. 1604Shakes. Oth. iii. iv. 41 Fasting, and Prayer, much Castigation, Exercise deuout. 1641Hinde J. Bruen xxvii. 85 Constancy in maintaining all good exercises of Religion. 1644Direct. Publ. Worship Ordinance 2 In all exercises of the publique worship. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. (1815) 167 He had assisted in Lady Griskin's, and several private houses, at exercises of devotion. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 606 His followers..passed a great part of the day in religious exercises. 1868Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. viii. 168 Punctual in every exercise of devotion. 1869Phillips Vesuv. iii. 49 Producing great terror and much religious exercise. 1880T. Fowler Locke i. 5 Locke..must have occasionally found these tedious, and doubtless lengthy, exercises [religious services at college] somewhat irksome.
b. An act of public worship.
1574Whitgift Def. Answ. ii. Wks. (1851) I. 197 The exercises of ‘praying, singing of psalms, interpreting, and prophesying’. 1628Earle Microcosm., Shee precise Hypocrite (Arb.) 63 She..thinkes the Weeke-dayes Exercise farre more edifying then the Sundaies. 1636Davenant Witts in Dodsley O. Pl. (1780) VIII. 413 And squire thy untooth'd Aunt to an exercise. 1674Consid. Peace & Goodw. Prot. 22 The main upholder of two famous Exercises. 1888E. Eggleston Graysons x. 117 The ‘exercises’ lasted a full hour longer, and it was half-past 10 before the presiding elder gave the benediction.
c. An act of preaching or prophesying; a discourse.
1594Shakes. Rich. III, iii. ii. 112, I am in your debt, for your last Exercise. 1604Const. & Canons Eccl. lxxii, Sermons, commonly tearmed by some Prophesies or Exercises, in market-towns, or other places. 1650Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 272 Having a mind to see what was doing among the Rebels..I went..and found one at exercise in the chapel. 1799C. Winter in W. Jay Mem. 30 When he closed his exercise, the people..seemed to say, etc. 1868J. G. Miall Congreg. Yorksh. 22 Prophesyings, or, as they were now [in 1603] called, ‘Exercises’.
d. An act of private worship.
1592Greene Art Conny-catch. iii. 11 They had said praiers, their euening exercise. 1663Flagellum; or O. Cromwell (1672) 21 The Family was called together to prayers, at which Exercise..they continued long. 1822Galt Steam-Boat 299, I went down stairs again to the parlour to make exercise. 1824Scott St. Ronan's xxviii, That honest person was, according to his own account..engaged in the exercise of the evening. 1825J. Neal Bro. Jonathan I. 34 On a Saturday evening..after the ‘exercises’ have been finished..they fall into serious conversation.
e. Sc. The discussion of a passage of Scripture; a meeting of the Presbytery for holding such a discussion. Exercise and Addition: see quot. 1709.
1572Lament. Lady Scot. in Scot. Poems 16th C. II. 246 The word of God is..in the schuills exercise trewlie teichit. 1598Sc. Acts. Jas. VI (1814) 189 Exemit..fra all teiching in kirkis and congregationis, except in exerceissis and censuring of doctrine in exerceissis. 1709W. Steuart Collect. & Observ. 30 The Presbyterial Exercise and Addition; The Exercise gives the Coherence of the Text and Context, the Logical Division, etc. The Addition gives the Doctrinal Propositions or Truths. 1884C. Rogers Soc. Life Scot. II. xi. 89 In 1638 the Presbytery of St. Andrews at their weekly meetings were proceeding through St. John's Gospel with an exercise and addition on every verse.
f. Hence the Presbytery itself.
1578Act Presb. Edin. in Wodr. Soc. Misc. (1844) 407 The Brethren of the Exercyiss of Edinburgh beand convenit. 1612Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1814) 499/1 The Ministers of the exercise of Dalkeith fand the best meane for reparing of the Kirk..to be, etc. 1884C. Rogers Soc. Life Scot. II. xi. 89 Members of each presbytery, then styled ‘the Exerceis’.
11. attrib. in (sense 7) exercise-ground, exercise-time, exercise-yard; exercise-loving adj.; exercise bone (see quot.); exercise book, a blank book of the kind used in schools for the writing of exercises; also, a book containing set exercises.
1890Billings Med. Dict., Exercise bone, bony deposit produced in or over a tendon by continued and repeated use or pressure.
1813M. Edgeworth Let. 1 May (1971) 33 Saw Edward 6th's famous little manuscript exercise book. 1838Mrs. Gaskell Let. 17 July (1966) 17 We are ‘here today, & gone tomorrow’, as the fat scullion maid said in some extract in Holland's Exercise book. 1873Young Englishwoman Apr. 207/3 Can the Editor mention a good musical exercise book? I believe the German books are the best. 1932L. Golding Magnolia St. ii. xiv. 461 The little shiny blue-backed exercise-book he used as a diary.
1788W. Dyott Diary Sept. (1907) I. 54 His Royal Highness went on shore to see a most extensive display of fireworks on the exercise ground. 1906J. Joyce Let. 4 Oct. (1966) II. 171 The interspaces being used as military exercise-grounds. 1930Blunden Leigh Hunt viii. 103 It became an exercise-ground in which, edition by edition, its author tried fresh evolutions.
1897Daily News 30 Aug. 5/7 Exercise-loving England.
1897P. Warung Tales Old Régime 209 To be deprived of their exercise-time added fresh pangs to the punishment of the virtuous.
1901Wide World Mag. VIII. 170/1 He was to put up a solid palisade round the outer edge of my exercise-yard. 1966Listener 18 Aug. 237/1 There was no bath..and there was no big exercise yard as there had been in Pretoria.
▸ exercise ball n. (a) any of various types of ball used as part of an exercise routine; (now) spec. = stability ball n. at stability n. Additions; (b) = hamster ball n. at hamster n. Additions
1907Washington Post (Electronic text) 8 Sept. A heavy *exercise ball was passed between each pair for twenty minutes. 1974Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald Amer. 4 Aug. (Hobbies section) 19/5 (advt.) Hamster & gerbil exercise ball. ‘Take your pet for a walk.’ 1978Bucks County (Pa.) Courier Times 7 June (Woolco Super Summer Savers Suppl.) (advt.) Dyna Bee gyro exercise ball. 1988Orange County (Calif.) Reg. (Nexis) 16 May c5 Marshall..has come to love the huge exercise ball he uses to strengthen his back. 2000Shape Oct. 139 (caption) One-legged Ball Squat. Put an exercise ball against a wall, then stand with your lower back firmly and comfortably against it, knees bent.
▸ exercise bicycle n. a stationary piece of exercise equipment resembling a bicycle, typically requiring the user to pedal against resistance.
1937Oakland (Calif.) Tribune (Electronic ed.) 14 Mar. For indolent beauty chasers—an *exercise bicycle that does all the work while it makes you slender and supple. 1943Dunkirk (N.Y.) Evening Observer 5 Feb. 16/3 A white-walled room containing a portable steam bath, an exercise bicycle and a barber's chair. 2004P. Klass Mystery of Breathing 202 She sat now on the exercise bicycle and churned her legs with grim, bored determination.
▸ exercise bike n. = exercise bicycle n. at Additions.
1946N.Y. Times 29 Sept. 90/7 (advt.) Wanted to Buy. Battle Creek belt vibrators, *exercise bikes and reducing machines. 2001Times 2 Jan. ii. 4/4 At the gym, using the treadmill, rower, Stairmaster and exercise bike will provide similar benefits.
▸ exercise cycle n. = exercise bicycle n. at Additions.
1952Coshocton (Ohio) Tribune 28 June 2/4 (caption) Labor Secretary Arthur Goldberg takes a turn on the *exercise cycle in the Labor Department's physical fitness room. 2006Hindustan Times (Nexis) 6 Nov. The poor state of gymnasium..exercise cycles.
▸ exercise wheel n. a treadwheel for small animals, used for the exercise of pets or as part of a scientific experiment; = activity wheel n. at activity n. Compounds 2.
1902N.Y. Times 27 Apr. 7/1 The *exercise wheel in the squirrel's cage is attached by a leather band to the wheel of a machine. 1935Jrnl. Mammalogy 16 263 The exercise wheel of a pair of mice was placed against the wire side of the cage so that it could not turn. 2000GTA Today 9 Aug. 6/2 Many small mammals, such as gerbils and hamsters, are nocturnal... If you decide to keep him in your child's bedroom, have lots of oil on hand for that squeaky exercise wheel!
▪ II. exercise, v.|ˈɛksəsaɪz|
Forms: see the n.
[f. prec. n.
The vb. has taken the place of the obsolete exerce, and is thus the representative in sense of L. exercēre, Fr. exercer, from which many of its uses are directly taken.]
1. trans. To put in action or motion.
†a. To put in operation, employ, use (an instrument, remedy, or any agency); to work (an animal). Obs.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 299 Vpon the asse, whiche of no man before had ben vsed ne exercised. 1590Spenser F.Q. iii. iii. 53 Let us..our weake hands..teach The dreadful speare and shield to exercize. 1612Drayton Poly-olb. A, Some exercising their pipes, some singing roundelaies. 1691T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 18 Without the least other Preparation or Mixture exercised upon the Metal it self. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 489 Then exercise thy sturdy Steers to plough Betwixt thy Vines. 1726Swift Gulliver ii. ii. 37 My Nurse gave me part of a Straw, which I exercised as a Pike. 1753Stewart's Trial 153 The King's factor should venture to exercise his Majesty's property freely. 1792Munchhausen's Trav. xx. 66 When they quarrel they exercise a strait horn.
b. To employ, bring to bear, apply (power, skill); to make practical use of (a right or privilege).
c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 578 Ther as he might his vertu excersise. 1535Coverdale 1 Kings xvi. 27 Amri, & all that he dyd, and his power that he exercysed. 1594Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. x. (1611) 25 The life is led most happily, wherin all vertue is exercised without impediment. 1622Massinger Virg. Mart. i. i, To..exercise that power Heaven has conferr'd upon me. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxviii. 162 That right of Punishing, which is exercised in every Common-wealth. 1690Locke Hum. Und. iv. xiv. §4 This faculty of the mind, when it is exercised immediately about things, is called judgement. 1711E. Fenton Ep. to Southerne 11 Sculpture exercis'd her Skill..to make the Marble breathe. 1836J. Gilbert Chr. Atonem. viii. (1852) 224 The Divine Being..exercises the right to forgive without any compensation. 1874Green Short Hist. vii. 394 An arbitrary power of imprisonment was still exercised by the Council. 1891Law Reports, Weekly Notes 77/1 The co-heiresses could have exercised the trust for sale.
2. a. To employ habitually, practise (a person); to busy. Const. in. (Now only refl. and pass., with some notion of gaining skill by practice: cf. 3).
1382Wyclif 2 Macc. xv. 12 Onye..was exercised, or haunted, in vertues fro a chijld. c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 90 Thay [Archers] nedyn to be mich exercysyd in schotyng. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 2 Some..be..moche exercysed in goostly conuersacyon. 1553Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 10 He had been wel exercysed in Astronomy. Ibid. 24 They are exercysed in fyshing. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 51 Cut off the haire..in such comelie and decent maner as these barbers exercised therein can doe. 1613Sir. H. Finch Law (1636) 162 A Clarke of the Crowne..which was neuer exercised in the Office. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. iv. (1702) I. 298 Untainted with any of those vices, which the Officers of that Army were exercised in. 1751Jortin Serm. (1771) I. iv. 78 They exhort us to exercise ourselves in godliness. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. III. 223 To give battle to an innumerable people, exercised in arms. 1794Mrs Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho i, She usually exercised herself in elegant arts. 1835Wordsw. C. Lamb, The hermit, exercised in prayer and praise..Is happy. 1874Mahaffy Soc. Life Greece viii. 241 He and his fellows were all exercised as jurymen in deciding political and social disputes.
†b. transf. To employ, occupy (time). Obs.
1711Addison Spect. No. 94 ⁋3 Those Parts of Life which are exercised in Study, Reading, and the Pursuits of Knowledge.
†c. To till (the ground); = L. exercēre terram.
1382Wyclif Gen. ix. 20 Noe, a man erthe tylyer, began to excercise [1388 tile] the erthe. 1654R. Codrington tr. Justin's Hist. 507 To exercise and mitigate the fields with ploughs. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 232 Unless the Land with daily Care Is exercis'd.
3. a. To train by practice; to employ, put into action or movement, for the sake of acquiring skill or strength; to drill (soldiers, etc.), to put through evolutions for practice or display; to put (the limbs, the body) through a course of movements for the sake of strength or health. Also, to subject to ascetic discipline.
1388Wyclif 1 Sam. xx. 20 Y schal caste as excercisynge [1382 hauntynge] ether pleiynge me at a signe. 1533Frith Another Bk. agst. Rastell 336 God..left the Philistines to exercise and nurture the children of Israel. 1549Latimer 6th Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 161 Menne of Englande..when they woulde exercyse theym selues..were wonte to goo a brode in the fyeldes a shootynge. 1557Bible (Genev.) Heb. v. 14 Them..which through custome haue their wittes exercised, to iudge both good and euyl. 1557in Babees Bk. (1868) 247 Moderatly exercise your body with some labour. 1684R. H. School Recreat. 84 Here [in tennis] the Body is briskly exercised more than ordinary. a1695Wood Life (1848) 266 A company of scholars..exercised themselves in feats of arms privately in All Souls coll. quadrangle. 1743R. Pococke Descr. East I. 57 The Arabs who came out to meet the cashif exercised themselves all the way on horseback. 1825Carlyle Schiller ii. (1845) 116 The objects..to which I had been exercising all my powers. 1838Prescott Ferd. & Is. ii. v. 478 [Ximenes] exercised himself with fasts, vigils, and stripes. 1842Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life III. ix. 142 He exercised the horses at Newmarket.
b. transf. To practise soldiers in the use of (weapons); to put (a gun) through its evolutions.
1713Addison Cato ii. vi, I'll draw up my Numidian troops..to exercise their arms. 1836Marryat Midsh. Easy xviii, Exercising the great guns on board ship.
†c. To accustom, inure. Obs.
1558in Strype Ann. Ref. I. App. iv. 6 To exercise the queen's majesty's subjects to obedience. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 110 In the mean time exercise them to meat.
4. a. To give employment to; to engage the attention or feelings of; to tax the powers of.
1538Starkey England ii. i. 176 Such poverty, exercysyth wel the pytuose myndys of them wych have enough. 1614Raleigh Hist. World iii. 71 The continuall Warres which exercised King Darius. 1780Harris Philol. Enq. Wks. (1841) 394 The authors of our own country..having exercised many critics of learning. 1818Jas. Mill Brit. India II. iv. v. 170 The situation was calculated to exercise Hindu duplicity and address. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 66/1 Various breeds had great celebrity—a celebrity which exercised the pens of their most famous writers.
b. esp. To harass, vex, worry; to afflict, make anxious, ‘prove’.
Originally in religious use with some notion of disciplinary exercise (see 3); the wider use was prob. at first transf. from this. Cf. exercise n. 6 c.
a1555Latimer Serm. & Rem. (1845) 323 Exercised with my old disease in my head. 1596Bp. Barlow 3 Serm. ii. 87 There is also another cause why God thus exerciseth his children. c1665Mrs. Hutchinson Mem. Col. Hutchinson (1848) 159 Injurious prosecutions, wherewith the governor was afterwards much exercised. a1715Burnet Own Time (1823) I. 78 God..thought fit to exercise him with calumny. 1722Sewel Hist. Quakers (1795) I. 24 At times his mind was much exercised. 1758S. Hayward Serm. xvii. 520 The melancholy disorder he [Job] was exercised with. a1847Mrs. Sherwood Lady of Manor I. iii. 68 The..dispensation with which it had pleased the Almighty to exercise her. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. v. (1889) 42 Tom..[was] much exercised in his mind as to what manner of man he had fallen upon. 1878Simpson Sch. Shaks. I. 113 The minds of people at Rome were exercised concerning the division of the expected spoil. 1888N. & Q. Ser. vii. V. 418 My own housemaid was very much exercised..by an inexplicable tinkling..of her door-bell.
5. To carry on, carry out, perform.
†a. To perform (esp. habitually), practise, take part in (an action, feat, game, etc.); to play (a part). to exercise the great horse (see horse).
c1430tr. T. à Kempis 37 Breþern..þat exercisen not þo þinges as þei are called to! 1531Elyot Gov. i. xxvii, He neuer exercised any other play or game. 1538Starkey England i. ii. 41 Frely hyt exercysyth vertues actys. 1541R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. A iij a, What dyuers operacions exerciseth the Cyrurgyen? 1547Homilies i. Short Declar. Faith i. (1859) 38 The living body of a man ever exerciseth such things as belong to a naturall and living body. 1548Hall Chron. 197 b, The Poleaxe the whiche feate he had greatly exercysed. 1552Huloet, Tragœdus, he that dothe exercise some parte in a tragedie. 1580Stow Ann. (1605) 481 Henry Hotespurre..maketh inuasion vpon them..exercising laudable factes. 1592Chettle Kindeharts Dr. (1841) 19 But now, I heare, my blinde brother, that exercisde the base. 1644Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 70 Here I..went to see them ride and exercise the great horse. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 551 About him exercis'd Heroic Games Th' unarmed youth of Heav'n. 1760C. Johnston Chrysal (1822) I. 201 The matron..immediately began to exercise her donations to public charities.
†b. To carry on, ply, pursue (an occupation, trade, etc.); to discharge the functions of (an official post); to practise oneself in (an art, language, etc.). Obs.
1467in Eng. Gilds (1870) 407 The craft that he canne or exercisith. 1511–2Act 3 Hen. VIII, c. 23 §9 They..may occupie and excercise their roomes and offices of foreyn Auditours. 1555Eden Decades W. Ind. 35 They had graneges & exercised tyllage. 1598Hakluyt Voy. I. 61 It..is a kinde of porte towne, hauing a great marte exercised therein. 1601R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 13 Many good townes and riche places where clothing is exercised. 1603Jas. I in Ellis Orig. Lett. i. 239 III. 66 We have thought good to appoint..the lord Thomas Howard de Walden to exercise that place. 1611Coryat Crudities 396 Which hunting of wilde boares is more exercised by the Germans then by any other Christian nations. 1651Life Father Sarpi (1676) 5 In Venice he exercised Merchandise, though with no great prosperity. 1683Dryden Life Plutarch 17 He had neither the leisure to study, nor so much as to exercise the Roman language. 1771Goldsm. Hist. Eng. I. 249 The inhabitants exercised pasture in the open country.
†c. To celebrate, perform (a ceremony, religious service, etc.); to perform the observances of (a religion). Obs.
a1400Cov. Myst. 71 This we clepe festum Encenniorum, The new ffest of whiche iij in the ȝere we exercyse. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 78/3 With the drede of God they excersised the feste of theyr weddynges. 1486in Lichfield Gild Ord., Owr ordinary visitacion had and exercysed in the chapell of owr lady beside the market place of Lichfeld. 1612Brerewood Lang. & Relig. xxvi. 228 The Gregorians..exercise notwithstanding their liturgies in the Greek tongue. 1698R. Lassels Voy. Italy II. 94 In this place was exercised the first publick profession of Christian religion. a1732Atterbury Serm. Matt. xxvii. 25 (Seager) They were permitted by their conquerors freely and publickly to exercise their religion. 1807J. Johnson Orient. Voy. 357 They have a regular form of government, and exercise the Mahometan religion.
d. To perform or practise acts of (justice, cruelty, oppression, duplicity, etc.). Cf. 1 b.
1494Fabyan Chron. ii. xxxii. 25 Gurguncius..exercisyd Iustyce to his subiects. 1548Hall Chron. 223 Thei exercised their crueltie, against their awne selfes. 1611Shakes. Cymb. v. iv. 82 No longer exercise, Upon a valiant Race, thy harsh..iniuries. a1703Burkitt On N.T. Matt. vii. 5 To exercise severity in judging of ourselves. 1791Burke Corr. (1844) III. 356 So much perfidy, pride, cruelty, and tyranny, never was exercised in a like case. 1818Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. viii. 679 The greatest oppression was evidently exercised upon the unhappy cultivators.
e. To discharge, fulfil (functions); to exert, wield, possess (dominion, jurisdiction, etc.).
1590Marlowe 2nd Pt. Tamburl. iv. i, I exercise a greater name, The scourge of God. 1658Whole Duty Man xiv. §8. 108 Those..who dare presume to exercise the offices of it, without being lawfully called to it. a1704Locke (J.), That dominion which their governours had a right to exercise over them. 1736Butler Anal. i. iii. Wks. 1874 I. 47 Government of the..same kind with that, which a master exercises over his servants. 1790Gouv. Morris Life & Writ. (1832) II. 117 It engrosses all functions though incapable of exercising any. 1828D'Israeli Chas. I, I. vi. 150 The late exiles..attempted to exercise their ministry. 1880L. Stephen Pope v. 111 Swift did not exercise either so gentle or so imperial a sway as Addison.
f. Of things: To ‘exert’, possess efficiently (force, influence, effect).
1862H. Spencer First Princ. ii. iv. §54 (1875) 178 The force which a given quantity of matter exercises, remains always the same. 1867Smiles Huguenots Eng. xi. (1880) 179 The Exodus of the French Protestants exercised a highly important influence on European politics.
6. absol. or intr. for refl. in various senses.
†a. To ply one's calling, to ‘practise’. Obs.
1511–2Act 3 Hen. VIII, c. 11 That noo person..take upon hym to excercise and occupie as a Phisicion. 1565Act 8 Eliz. c. 13 §5 Sea-faring Men..may freely and quietly exercise and row in their own Wherries.
†b. To perform one's office, practise, upon. Also, To treat upon a subject. Obs.
1610Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 328 Vrchins Shall for that vast of night, that they may worke, All exercise on thee. 1616Lane Sqr.'s Tale 120 Wheare such surgeons on flesh exercise. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. Pref. 6 And lastly, as a close to Smithing, I shall Exercise upon Steel, and its several Sorts.
c. To go through exercises or evolutions; esp. of soldiers, ‘to drill’.
1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. vi. 12 I'th' common shew place where they exercise. 1678tr. Gaya's Art of War ii. 53 Exercise. Ibid. 57 Whilst the Pikes are exercising, the Musketteers are made to order, or rest upon their Arms. 1697Potter Antiq. Greece i. viii. (1715) 38 For Wrestlers, Dancers, and all others that would, to Exercise at the same Time. 1782Cowper Gilpin 64 In which I bear my trusty sword When I do exercise.
d. To take exercise.
1655Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 211 Thirdly, Exercise not presently upon it [milk]. a1698Temple Health & Long Life Wks. 1720 I. 279 In the course of common Life, a Man must either often Exercise, or Fast, or take Physic, or be sick. 1734J. Rogers Ess. Epid. Dis. 257 A spare Diet is necessary, when we can't Exercise. 1877H. James Amer. i, If it was necessary to walk to a remote spot, he walked, but he had never known himself to exercise. 1897Daily News 1 Dec. 5/3 The other prisoners exercised as usual yesterday.
†7. intr. To conduct or engage in a religious exercise or service; to expound or interpret Scripture. Obs. exc. Hist. Cf. exercise n. 10.
1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. Contents, Leaving the inferiour manner of exercising which hee used among the Israelites. 1635Winthrop New Eng. (1853) I. 214 Mr. Shepherd prayed with deep confession of sin, etc., and exercised out of Eph. v. 1649Evelyn Mem. (1857) III. 38 Lieutenant-Gen. Cromwell..exercised yesterday at Whitehall, to inquire of the Lord, etc. 1663P. Henry Diaries & Lett. (1882) 130 In y⊇ morning I exercis'd at home, I hope to edification. |